Re: Whatever happened to geometry?

On Sun, 16 Mar 2008 07:20:57 -0700, mg wrote:

On Mar 16, 5:36 am, Glenn <mino...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:29:02 -0700, mg wrote:
On Mar 15, 6:12 pm, Glenn <mino...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
While searching the net for dirt on McCain's psychiatric records, I
chanced upon the following NY Times article:

"Report urges changes in teaching Math."

They seem to think that fractions were so difficult that once they
were taught, next came algebra I and II. Apparently they were
excited that algebra II was an indicator of how well one would do in
college. They didn't mention plain, solid and analytical geometry. I
suppose they were in a hurry to get to calculus. Was it just an
oversight in the article or did we really give up on geometry?

--
Glenn

I would guess that most adults in the U.S. can't do simple fractions.
If you want to have some fun, take a poll of your friends and
relatives and ask them what 1/2 divided by 3/4 is. Or, if you want to
complicate it a little bit ask them what 1/2 divided by 3/4 divided
by 4/5 is. Or ask them what 60% of 7 is.

Probably a good reason to teach fractions within algebra as additional
ways of solving fractions will be found. For example, x = 1/2/3/4 or
3x/4 = 1/2 or 6x/4 = 1 or x = 4/6 = 2/3. The method being to increase
the number of steps, but making each step simpler.

However, my real problem is the apparent demise of geometry, especially
my favorite, analytical geometry.

To be honest, I managed to get a bachelors degree in electronic
engineering knowing very little about geometry. My HP 41CX had a math/
stat pak in it and whenever I ran up against a geometry problem, I would
just poke it into my calculator, or write a program that solved it.

As the report you referenced said, students must ". . . develop
conceptual understanding, computational fluency and problem-solving
skills." I have seen electronic engineering projects, for example, that
last 2 years or more. It's rarely necessary to get the answer fast, it's
just a matter of knowing how to get the answer and how to make sure it's
correct.

I come from the era before HP calculators, just K&E (and others) slide
rules. Because of the ease of making mistakes, we were taught to use the
old hand methods with approximations to make sure the answers were
reasonable. If geometry has gone bye-bye, stay off the bridges as they
may have the same flaws as the one in Minneapolis that fell down --
something about garbage in, garbage out or operating outside the design
parameters that should warn of too much reliance on computers. How you
managed courses like ridged body mechanics (MM) is beyond me or perhaps
you went to Standford.

--
Glenn

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